I, Rajaditya Mukherjee, am applying to the Ohio State University for admission to the Doctoral program in Computer Science and Engineering. My research interests are in the field of Computational Geometry. More specifically, I am interested in topics like applications of Computational geometry in motion planning and mesh generation and other geometric query problems.

Completing my PhD will be the first step in my aim to be actively involved with research in some leading research lab or university, and work in an area that interests me. I have always loved to work independently and make original contributions to research. I believe I will be able to rise up to the challenges involved with research and teaching with perseverance and sincerity.
ACADEMICS IN SCHOOL

Academic has always been the keystone in the arch of my educational career. I was a school topper all through my life. I cleared my secondary school examination from St. Thomas’ High School under the Indian School Secondary Certificate Examination. I secured an aggregate of 95.0%. I was officially declared the school topper and unofficially declared the district topper. In my ISC Examinations from La Martiniere for Boys, Kolkata, one of the leading missionary schools in India with 95.2% aggregate marks. Again I was among the 5 school toppers. Also in my senior year in School I secured merit prizes for the highest overall marks in Physics and Mathematics.

COMPUTER SCIENCE MAJOR

I joined Jadavpur University after securing a rank of 165 out of 100000 candidates in the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination for admissions to Engineering College and medical Colleges. My chosen Subject was a Bachelor Degree in Computer Science and Engineering. In my college I have consistently ranked among the top 10% in my department with my SGPA as 8.77 (out of 10 – Absolute Marking) and percentage marks of 81.88%. Also notable mentions are my grades in Data Structures and Operating systems Papers where I have obtained an S which is the highest possible obtainable Grade in Jadavpur University.
Having gained a preliminary understanding of Computer Science as a whole, I joined a project work under Professor Mridul Sankar Barik of Jadavpur University which dealt with the development of software for “Interactive Graph Visualization”. The main aim of this project was to develop ingenious software to aid in the visualization of complex graphs. For my final year Bachelor Thesis work, my topic is “Research Testbed in Computational Geometry Algorithms”. The topic deals with the design and implementation of an interactive library of commonly used Computational geometry Algorithms together with various advanced Data Structures such as Quadtrees, Interval trees etc for the purpose of easy use and further research in the field of Computational Geometry. The work of this project is done in C and Java. This project is supervised by Professor Chandan Mazumdar, the Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Also for this project, I was nominated for the UGC Undergraduate Research Grant from my university.

In the summer of 2010, I worked under Prof. Georg Carle in the Chair for Network Architecture and Services in Technical University of Munich. The topic of my internship was “Measurement Experiments in Future Internet Testbeds”.I was entrusted with the responsibility of setting up and administrating the GpENI Nodes in the chair. GpENI, an acronym, for Great Plains Environment in Network Innovation is an effort for a large-scale, wide-area, programmable network testbed whose purpose it to enable research in future Internet architecture. GpENI is capable of running several future internet approaches in parallel – this type of network virtualization is considered one key concept of the future internet. I finished the internship in a period of 2 months and published a scientific poster to showcase my findings. This internship was funded by the highly competitive DAAD WISE Scholarship.

MATHEMATICS BACKGROUND

I am a firm believer that Mathematics and Computer Science are very closely knit and a firm foundation in mathematics is a necessary tool for excellence in the field of Computer Science. With the above fact in mind, I have always been devoted to studying mathematics. The result is evident from the fact that I have scored 98% and 100% respectively in my Secondary and School Leaving Examinations respectively. I have been able to maintain the trend in college with my grades being in the range of 80-100%. Notable mentions include marks of more than 90 % ( Grade Equivalent S ) in the papers of Numerical Analysis, Engineering Calculus, Vector and 3D Geometry and Probability and Stochastic Process.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Finally after passing out of university, I joined Synopsys India Pvt Ltd as a R&D Engineer in Verification group. As a part of my job, I am responsible for Synopsys flagship verification product VCS – Verilog Compiled Simulator. More specifically, I work with the Low Power Division. As a part of my job, I have detailed exposure to various aspects of Compiler Design, Object Oriented Programming and Software Engineering methodologies. My work involves restructuring and adding existing code, enhancements and features as a part of short term project. Also I am involved with the implementation of CPF (Common Power Format) as a part of VCS. The aforementioned is my long term developmental project for the company.

REASONS FOR OSU

Undoubtedly, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at OSU has one of the best research groups in Computational Geometry and Computer Graphics. An opportunity to work in exciting projects with world class researchers would be a golden one for any budding researcher. I would love to pursue my Ph.D. under any of the esteemed faculty members at the Computer Graphics Lab (CG Lab) in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, working in Computational Geometry and Computer Graphics, especially under the supervision of Prof. Tamal K. Dey, as his area of research are quite aptly suited to my interests.

On consultation with the faculty at Jadavpur University and my seniors who are now actively into research, and on careful study of the department’s brochures and webpages I have realized that Ohio State University would provide a perfect environment for directing my mental resources towards independent research. I am confident of meeting the high standards of OSU, as reflected by my academic achievements and technical background.
Keeping in mind my long-term goals, my immediate objective is to work towards a Ph.D. in Computer Science. I am aware of the kind of dedication, perseverance and resolve I need to have for a fruitful career in research and teaching. I believe my background has not only qualified me technically but also given me the right mind-set for such a career.

I look forward to joining as a graduate student in your department and having a long and mutually profitable association with the Ohio State University.